This invention was the subject matter of Document Disclosure Program Registration No. 184008 filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 7, 1988.
As is to be expected given the former widespread popularity of men's brimmed hats, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse support devices for this particular style of hat; as can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,341,643; 2,177,546; 3,108,723; and, 2,994,436.
While brimmed hats have fallen out of favor in todays society, this type of hat style has been largely replaced by a billed hat which is commonly referred to as a baseball cap.
Following on the heels of the decline of the popularity of the brimmed hat, this country also experienced the vanishing of the hatters trade except for very small scale operations scattered around the country.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, the vast majority of people who wear a billed cap are left with no other alternative when the cap becomes soiled and dirty, but to subject the cap to either a manual or machine washing. Unfortunately, regardless of the particular mode of washing employed most billed caps do not dry uniformly resulting in both wrinkling and deformation of both the bill and crown of the cap.
Faced with this situation, the owners of billed caps have experienced a longfelt need for an apparatus that would both support and shape a billed cap during the drying process, and these stated objectives were the primary motivating considerations involved in the development of the present invention.